1. IB290 SEM 465 Topics in Phylogenetics
Meeting 1: Introductions, Weds Aug 30.

2. Phylogeny… Phylogenies are cartoons depicting the evolutionary history of a group of organisms (they’re trees-of-life)
Concepts:
Most recent common ancestor
Closest relative (“sister group”)
“Monophyletic”, “Clade”
Cladograms vs phylograms vs chronograms
Ancestral vs. derived characters
Sampling, extinction, primitive lineage fallacy, etc
Can “swivel” the nodes

3. Phylogeny, quiz
-Which of the species included in this phylogeny is most closely related to the lizard?
From Baum, Smith, & Donovan: The Tree-Thinking Challenge

4. Phylogeny, quiz
-ancestral vs. derived characters – e.g., cold-bloodedness vs. hair
From Baum, Smith, & Donovan: The Tree-Thinking Challenge

5. Applications of phylogeny
Hughes & Eastwood PNAS

9. Split, from one lineage into two?
Divergence, which may lead to speciation
Pre-existing feature?
Plesiomorphy (ancestral feature)
New feature?
Apomorphy (derived feature)

10. Apomorphy for a single lineage
Autapomorphy?
Apomorphy for a single lineage
Synapomorphy?
Apomorphy for two or more lineages

11. Cladogram vs chronogram vs phylogram

12. Structure of branching diagram; how branches are connected together
Topology
Structure of branching diagram; how branches are connected together
Ingroup, outgroup, rooting

13. Homology: characters, character states

14. Primary tenet of phylogenetic systematics?
Taxa (O.T.U.’s) can be grouped by synapomorphies, because these represent unique evolutionary events. Synpleisiomorphies, on the other hand, don’t provide information for grouping taxa.
Note: This is subtly different from grouping taxa by similarity (similarity can be due to synapomorphies or synpleisiomorphies)
-Only made it here in lecture, although I had planned to get further